Charlie Peich

The DeVry Standard Automatic camera was available, or put on the market, July 1926. This short article was published in the July issue of a popular Moving Picture magazine.. It seems DeVry was aiming for the 'Amateur' moving picture photographer at that time. This is the cover of one of DeVry's sales brochure from 1926. You'll notice the moving picture photographer in the picture is using the DeVry Standard Automatic camera to photograph what appears to be his family at home. On the back side of this cover, DeVry prints a 'Forward' In December 1926, DeVry runs an ad for another sales booklet aimed at the amateur .... In this booklet is a wonderful picture of a Mom taking moving pictures with a DeVry Standard Automatic camera of what appears to be her baby, at their home... (Home Movies?) Also in this booklet is a page describing what went into the process of designing this camera for amateurs... "World Famous Experts"! Included in these 2 sales booklets is dialogue trying to convince the perspective Amateur Motion Picture Photographer the merits of Standard film over Sub-Standard film. They are humorous, well, to me that is. As you know Simon, B&H had announced the Eyemo Automatic Standard Professional Portable camera in October of 1925. Then in January 1926, they announced the availability of the Eyemo in 2 publications. In both cases they stated the Eyemo as built to 'professional' standards', 'especially designed for field and stunt use'. 'At Last the need for a compact, light of weight professional camera of dependable quality has been supplied!' Nothing about a motion picture camera for the Amateur. So, B&H beat DeVry to the market by 6 - 7 months with a Standard Automatic Camera that takes 100ft daylight load rolls of film.

Simon, Are you saying my statement is incorrect?

This was done in 1948....

Seems it would be a series 6... 27mm threads on the Ektar lens https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-Kodak-Series-VI-No-27-Screw-In-Adapter-Ring/323181589291?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D44040%26meid%3D87113e8d8a2d4e94ae4a2efa5ba84dbe%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D222893351191%26itm%3D323181589291&_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850

You use this tool / wrench.. ( Angenieux supplied tool with each lens usually with a finder) inserted into these 2 slots Then unscrew the retaining ring. Voila.

For the last generation of Arri film cameras, its called the 'Timing Shift Box'. Timing Shift Box (TSB) The Timing Shift Box adjusts the phase relationship of the mirror shutter to the movement. The result is that the film is exposed while being trans-ported, which creates a streaking effect. A unique feature of the Timing Shift Box is the Jitter function. It introduces a random fluctuation in the timing shift, resulting in a fluctuation of the length of the streak. Compatibility: This box attaches directly to the Studio camera or the Remote Control Station, and can be connected to the Studio or Lite camera with the MCB Cable Adapter and the Speed Control Box Remote Cable KC-65 (3m/9ft) or KC-69 (15m/45ft), with or without the 50m/150ft Cable Drum KC-73. It also works on the Arri 435 Advanced and 435 Extreme.

Rob, did you see my PM I sent you? You should not have to lift the circuit boards. The 15A fuse is screwed in with 2 screws.

Rob, Sorry, I was thinking about the large red light. You are correct, there are 2 LEDs under the plastic cover (thanks for the pic). I had to dig the book out...... The LED on the left illuminates if your main power supply polarity is REVERSED. Immediately unplug your power cable!! Pin 1 of the main power receptacle is minus. Pin 4 is plus 12 volts DC. The .75A power fuse will blow if plus and minus are reversed. The main 15A power fuse will most likely blow. The 7A accessory fuse should also be checked. The LED on the right will glow when the 15A main fuse or the 7A accessory fuse blow. These fuses are located inside the motor compartment. The fuse located under the plastic cover at the right is the .75A fuse protecting the camera electronics. The fuse at the left is a spare. Is your power supply polarity reversed?? The screw head in your pic is for adjusting the volume of the out-of-sync beep.

The red light on the left, right under the plastic cover for the fuse and speed control - 24/25/30 fps, is an indicator light that indicates the camera is running. The one to the right of it is possibly an out-of-sync warning light or it is an out-of sync beep volume control, but this depends on which variation of the BL-4 you have. A pic of the back of your camera would be helpful. You should try to find a copy of Jon Fauer's 'The ARRI 35 Book', I know, it is rare.

Michael, Your motor has the '24 B/sec' label placed on it, so it means that motor will run at 24 fps only. There is no 'Forward/Reverse' switch on it like on a wild motor. Your motor looks like the the latest version of the Governor Controlled motor that Arri made before they stopped the 16S program. It's possible that that motor runs on 12 volts. Doubtful that is is 'crystal controlled' for precise frame rate. If you had the variable speed motor, it would look like the variable speed motor in the pic below. The earlier version of the Governor Controlled Motor had the large transistor mounted on it, also was 8 volts. You could have ordered the motor from Arri to run at a single speed from 16 fps to 32 fps. (not variable) It's possible you can change the electronics in it to run at your 18fps.... just a thought. Anyway, why 18fps?? At the end, Arri was just promoting this motor for 16S camera Charlie

Tim, Excellent! Now that you have it up and running, are you planning on updating or adding additional info? Since we've talked, I have found more paper and some additional Arri T.I.s that might be helpful for the Arri S user/collector. One piece is a T.I. on how to use that pesky Periscopic Finder...... <_< Cheers! Charlie

Hello Simon! Thank You for searching and finding the pic you remembered. I have to agree with Mark, it does look like the 200ft prototype mag that I feel never went into production. Smaller is nice, but back when the SR came out, everyone wanted the longer 400ft run.... the SR was competing with the Eclair NPR. Charlie

Tim, Dom, Some info about those mirror shutters... Sam Wells: "Arri S and 16BL segment the mirror itself with a small stripe so you see your "48 flicks" so to speak in the viewfinder but this has no effect on how the film is exposed when the shutter is open." Those bars were called flicker reducing bars... interrupter bars. What they do is add a second flicker into the finder to prevent eye fatigue. Without the bars, the open shutter would give (running at 24fps) 24 flickers to the finder. That was found to cause eye fatigue, so they added a 2nd set of 'flickers', or interrupters on the mirror shutter, now giving 48 flickers per second when shooting at 24fps. It appears that's all they do. In a "History of Arriflex" article, the author put this review in the story. The review was written in 1938. Maybe this is the answer for why no black stripes on the mirror..... Bow-tie mirror shutter with black bars (blue arrow)..... Arri 16S shutter without black bars..... In this 1970 illustration for the 16BL behind the lens exposure meter, they show the optical path. They show a side view of the mirror shutter ( pink arrow ). But, they don't indicate or show the back strip/bar on the mirror. It could be that they eliminated the black bar on the 16BL's mirror, and additionally on the 16S mirror for cameras that had the APEC door/finder, to reduce the amount of 'flickers' that went to the meter to help increase the meter's accuracy. As the 16SR was available in the mid 70’s, it has a 180 degree circular mirror which would give 24 flickers at 24fps, giving it a brighter image in the finder. It was never a problem for me. Charlie

'The 200ft mags were adorably cute, but they don't really sell 200ft loads of 16mm film anymore, so they're a bit impractical.' Aaaaw, come on now Tim, the 200 ft mag isn’t rendered impractical on the 16M (or the 16S) because of Kodak, it is still very useful. What about ‘short ends’? Say you have a short end of 120 ft, 130 ft, 156 ft, 177 ft or 195 ft., why put it in a large, heavy 400 ft mag when you can have a lower profile and lighter camera using the 200 ft mag? The 200 ft mag on the 16S is much easier to hold when shooting hand held than the heavier 400 ft mag. Then there is the wind factor blowing against the flat side of the 400 ft mags on a windy day..... :o Good to see you posting again Tim. Hope all is well with you. However, while I have you and Dom (Hello Dom!) in this thread, and I know its thread high-jacking, but I have a question about the mirror shutter on the 16BL. I shot with that camera years ago, but I didn’t pay attention to the bow-tie mirror. As the 16BL movement and shutter is based on the same design as the 16S and 16M movment (the heart of the camera as Arri put it), does the 16BL have the same 2 black bars on the mirror giving an additional flicker rate as the 16S/M cameras? This came up in a private discussion with a forum member. I thought that it didn’t, that the 2 bow-ties on the BL are 'un-interrupted'. I can’t find any info on the mirror shutter for the BL camera, and I know the BL service manual is very scarce. I’m hoping you 2 would know from personal servicing experience, or if there are any 16BL owners reading this. Thank You! Cheers! Charlie

Hello Mitch... Looks like the Cinema Products CP16R mount on the lens...... Your 9.5-57 lens with the CP16R lens mount looks to be a factory adapted lens, not a CP16R adaptor that would slip on to a Arri Standard or Arri B-mount. Your lens would have to be refitted with a PL mount (best way to go), or with an Arri Standard/Arri B-mount type mount. Then you could get a PL adaptor. I don't think Cinema Products made a PL mount or an adaptor. Charlie

Well, that's a new one for me. But, nothing in this business surprises me. As I said above, I have never heard of this before in the States. Was it made by Arri? A 100 ft mag was never in the rental houses. Having a small load on the camera would not necessarily reduce the size of the SR camera. I would use a Arri 16S/St/S-B to get into tight spots. Very handy camera, if you know how to use it.

Greetings Simon! I was looking at this thread, and I saw your statement about the 100 ft. mags for the 16SR. Arri 16SR? I've never heard of a 100ft mag for that camera. But, Arri in Germany made many film products and accessories that weren't imported to the USA, so possibly there is a 100ft mag that was made. I used to put 100ft daylight load metal reels (wonderful Kodachrome) on the feed and take-up side of the 400ft magazines. Is that what you were thinking of? Those daylight load reels made an extra level of noise that made the SR some what undesirable for sync sound shooting. Or were you possibly thinking of the 200 ft magazine for the 16SR? 200ft = a 5 1/2 minute run for sync shooting, seems like the 400 ft 11min run would be more desirable, less film changes, even though the magazine change on the 16SR is pretty fast. At the time the Arri 16SR came out, Arri had 200 ft mags available for the 16S and 16M cameras. Although these were MOS cameras, you could put them in a blimp for sound shooting, and I'm sure they only used 400 ft mags in the blimp. One might have killed the assistant if he had to change mags every 5 1/2 mins in those blimps. Arri's Silent/Sync Sound 16BL, 1st announced in the spring of 1964, then available for delivery in May of 1965, didn't have a 200 ft mag in its program, just 400 footers. In 1976, I was ready to buy a 16BL. The salesman, sales person, sales associate at the Arri dealer (back then Arri in the USA still had a dealer network, you bought all Arri equipment, parts through a dealer) said I should hold off on the BL, the new 16SR was on the horizon. I'm glad I did, I bought the new 16SR. I had SR serial number xx180, the 180th SR made. At the time I was about ready to by the BL, the dealer gave me Arri's 'announcement' brochure selling the new 16SR. The brochure had prototype pictures of the proposed SR....... The proposed 400ft magazine.... By the time I ordered my SR, Arri had a new sales brochure and price list printed.... The 16SR with 400 ft mag. There is no mention of a 200ft mag in the description. I never considered the smaller 200 ft mag, yeah, it may have been lighter, but I think all users of the camera wanted the longer run for sync sound shooting, documentaries, news, etc. The price list did not list the 200 ft mag. I was told the the 200 footer was dropped, and personally, I don't think it ever went into production. Cheers! Charlie

Greetings Alberto! Are you familiar with the loading and exposing the 2 sides of the 16mm wide Double 8mm film in the camera? There is a cleaver way that was designed way back in the 1930s to prevent the user from double exposing the film. The small 25 foot reels have different openings on each side of the reel. When you wind your bulk roll down, you have to have the film correctly orientated on the reel in order to load it into the camera properly. Wind it wrong, it won't work, simple as that. The pic below is how the reels will sit in your camera when you load it. The gray reel is the raw film, the black reel is the take up. Look at the film feed spindle and the take up spindle, you'll see how the reel notches work to prevent wrong orientation of the reels. The gray reel has a faint #1 stamped on it. That means the 1st side of the film is being loaded. You also see the 4 notches on the spindle hole. These 4 notches have to be up when in the camera. If you were to flip the reel over and try to load it on the feed side of the camera, it won't go. A safety step. The take up reel has 3 notches up on the spindle hole when loaded in the correct position. I added a 2nd pic of a take up reel so you can see the 3 notches better. Usually the camera came with a reel printed like the one shown on the right below. That reel always stayed with the camera as you had wound the film back onto the reel that came with the unexposed film during the 2nd run. 3 notches up on the take up side. When you've finished shooting the 1st side, you flip the reels over and run the 2nd side through. Then process it. Slit it in half. Splice the 2 pieces together and run it on your projector. Again, the reel with the 4 notches up, as in the below pic, the film should be wound so it comes off the top of the reel on the right side, emulsion down, or in. As suggested in posts above, I'm not 100% sure if these small CAMERA reels with the different set of notches will fit on the shaft of an 8mm editor, possibly they will. You'll have to try them. I was weened on shooting Double 8mm as a kid, but I didn't wind down bulk loads of film. I used to process 8mm B&W film however. I did have a Baia film slitter. The 2nd pic shows film with Super 8 sprocket holes. If loading the camera as I explained above doesn't quit make sense, I have an instruction manual that explains the steps. I'll have to scan it 1st, so let me know. Good luck! Charlie (it really is very simple)

Charles, If you have the time, join this site: http://8mmforum.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi There are many there who are familiar with your projector and cracked worm gears. Many of them are from your side of the pond, they can steer you to cine techs in the UK that can replace the gear for you should you not want to do it yourself. A youtube about worm gears.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znCTbFE2bgI Good luck! Charlie

Hello Michael! It looks like you have the Model E DeVry Suitcase projector. Those were 1st made in or around 1921. A very popular projector in its time. Here is a link to a manual for the machine, it has operating and some mechanical adjustments explained in it. https://books.google.com/books?id=l-Q0AQAAMAAJ&pg=PT8&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false The part you show in your post does look like a rheostat of some kind... 1920s state of the art technology. Page 16 of the manual explains how these rheostats for the motor and light work. You can always check them with a VOM meter to see if the resistance is still working. You'll want to clean the contacts anyway. A couple of things to warn you about this machine, as it was designed in the late 19teens or 1920, film speed at the time was the 'silent' speed of 16fps. There was no 24fps sound speed yet. So the normal speed would be 16fps and, possibly, the variable speed motor would run up to 24fps. Running the projector slower would give you problems with the fire shutter, if it is still working. When you get it running, I wouldn't run any valuable or treasured film on it! Don't even think about it. Get some old faded movie trailers or expendable film to experiment with. DeVry in their manual proudly claims: "Points of Superiority - It is the only Portable Projector -- of fireproof construction and designed on the principle of constituting its own booth." What this means, and looking at the picture of your machine, see that white stuff attached to the interior of the door, and then attached all around the interior of the projector? That is ASBESTOS! While asbestos was probably hailed as a miracle for fire retention back then, we now know the dangers of it. Do you value your lungs? 35mm film back then was the highly inflammable nitrate, so this suitcase would possibly contain any fires should the film jam and catch fire. You no longer need asbestos with the safety film of today. No parts available. The only way to get parts is through cannibalization of other like machines. Charlie

Greetings Michael! I’m curious as to why you are concerned about the rpm’s of the Arri 16 Variable Speed Motor. I've never seen rpm figures for the 'Wild' motor printed in Arri literature. There were rpm figures listed for the 24fps sync motor however, but that had to do with differences between 50Hz and 60Hz, and 24 or 25fps. This 8 volt 'Wild' motor was the 1st motor Arri offered for the 16S when the camera was introduced in 1951. (The history lesson of this post) This is a pic of the 1st generation 16S with the wild motor. Notice, there was no opening for an external magazine. Just 50 or 100ft rolls. This is the finder side...... The wild motor design didn't change much until Arri changed the voltage requirements from 8 volts to 12volts in, or around, 1980. The math to figure out the rpm's is fairly simple, in my opinion, but if I'm wrong, someone please correct me. The drive shaft where the motor fits into ..... has to rotate 3 times to achieve 1 exposure. This includes the shutter rotating, the un-exposed film pulled into place, the registration pin to register the film, the shutter to open and expose and then close. You can easily check this by lining up the mirror from the front to cover the aperture, then rotate the drive shaft 3 times. It should stop in the same 'position' as you had placed the shutter originally. You could rotate the shaft with your finger on the coupling, or you can have your wild motor in place, make some marks on the inching knob and motor housing to give you a reference point, then count the turns on the inching knob. If it takes 3 turns of the camera's drive shaft to expose 1 frame of film, then 24 frames would take 72 turns or revolutions of the motor's drive shaft. You want to run your camera at 24 frames per second, then your wild motor would be running at 72 revolutions per second. 60 seconds in a minute would give you (60 x 72) 4320 revolutions per minute, or 4320 rpm. From a 1970 instruction manual... However, your wild motor will handle 12 volts, in fact, Arri said that in a 1972 product brochure.... The wild motors on the 16S are designed to be run at 8 volts. They'll work at 12 volts, but the higher voltage damages the brushes of the motor and it will shorten the motor life.If running with 12 volts, don't use the 400ft mags and 8 volt torque motors. Those small motors are designed for 6 -8 volts, given 12 volts they will run too fast and strip the film when 12 volts is applied.. So the 12 volts has to dropped down to 8 volts. Easily done. Arri says the wild motor runs from 6 - 40 fps. Well, I've run mine from 4 - 50 fps off of a 8 volt battery, without a 400ft magazine and torque motor. It depends on the condition of the battery. Finally, I can see how you came up with the 2100 rpm figure. The 16S is not the same as a camera with a 180 degree half moon shutter where half the 360 degree shutter disc is black and the other half open, but it has a 'Bow-tie' shutter. It consists of two open segments (90 degrees each) positioned opposite of each other. A bad pic of a Bow-tie shutter... Butterfly shutters rotate at half the speed of a half-moon shutter. As explained by fellow forum member, and knowledgable of all things 16S, Tim Carroll: "Okay, I am not sure what folks are referring to as butterfly shutters, but if you are really meaning bow-tie shutters, then the Arriflex 16SR does not qualify. The Arriflex 16S, 16S/B, 16St, and 16M all have bow-tie shutters. On the Arriflex, a bow-tie shutter doesn't expose the negative twice, it rotates at half the speed of the movement. The mirror does a complete revolution every two frames." and by forum member Jonathan Benny: "The disk with two 90 degree openings is turning at half the speed of what a shutter with a 180 degree opening would, therefore the same shutterspeed. Each frame is only exposed once and the film is advanced between each 90 degree opening." Sam Wells: "Arri S and 16BL segment the mirror itself with a small stripe so you see your "48 flicks" so to speak in the viewfinder but this has no effect on how the film is exposed when the shutter is open." The 90 degree opening is moving half the speed, therefore it's exposure is the same, or equivalent to a 180 degree shutter. ​There you go, something to think about. lol. Regards, Charlie.

It seems Clive Tobin has closed down his business. A sad loss. http://www.tobincinemasystems.com

Michele, Have you sorted out which lens attachments to use on your 16mm 240EE? The ones in the eBay auction you posted are for the B&H 252 or 220 series 8mm roll film cameras. They won't work on your 16mm 240EE. Charlie

That camera appeared in 1931. It was considered a toy back then. It takes 50 foot spools, not 100 ft spools. The spool holes and the inside hub dimensions on the 50 spool are identical to the 100 foot ones, or the Kodak R-90 spool of today. If you get 100ft loads of film, you'll have to wind them down to the 50 ft spool. Double 8 spools will not fit on the round feed spindle, or the squared to round take up spindle. Where do you get 50ft 16mm spools? I don't know. Kodak stopped providing 50 ft spools in the '60s, maybe into the early 70s, my guess. I've once saw a 50ft spool, but that was a long time ago when I was 1st starting out. Good luck finding those today!! Dom, as for the pull down claw, according to a page from the instruction manual, it is in the correct position for pulling single perf film. The claw appears to be 2 pins on top of each other, away from the door, not like the very early 2 pin B&H 70 pull down assembly. How does one hold this camera and crank it? Maybe that was it's demise...... The Vitascope camera was introduced in April, 1931. There was a P.R. piece about it printed in the April, 1931 issue of "Movie Makers" magazine, a magazine for the 'Home Movie' enthusiast........ Vol 6 Movie Makers - April 1931 page 208 Then in May, Vitascope ran a full page ad for the system..... Vol 6 Movie Makers - May 1931 page 229 Hmmmmm, a Wollensak lens. You can read the 1931 Movie Makers magazines here. Interesting ads and articles about early movie productions and equipment..... https://archive.org/details/moviemakers06amat Vitascope ran ads thru the end of the year, then stopped by Jan 1932. I saw no mention of Vitascope after that. Also, in the middle of 1932 8mm (double 8) started appearing. A group shot of early 16mm home movie cameras. You can see that the Vitascope is somewhat smaller than the big boys that took 100 ft loads. Oh, the big boys had spring drives. I found one page of the instruction manual (amazing) in an article about early filmmaking. Not very good quality, but it does describe loading of the camera and shows an illustration of the inside of the camera. Sheesh, only 1 page of the manual, so close......... http://cinema.usc.edu/assets/098/15847.pdf It also states that the 50 foot spool only had 30 feet of film on it. The rest of the 50 ft must have been taken up by 16mm perforated opaque paper leader and trailer used to protect the film from exposure to light when loading and unloading. Anyone know why this was done? I do. :-) .....Simon? Charlie (It was Hand Cranking that killed the beast!)

Hello Jessica! It sounds like you want to 'tone' your motion picture film, possibly for projection. Tinting and Toning of B&W motion picture film was popular in the silent film period. Home movie enthusiasts, those that were into processing their films, would also color their 8mm and 16mm films (originals). Several suppliers offered pre-mixed chemicals. From a 1927 Eastman paper: "As distinct from tinting; a toned image consists of a colored image embedded within a layer of colorless g tine (gelatin), so that while the highlights are clear, the shadows are colored." Brian Pritchard has info and samples on his site: http://www.brianpritchard.com/tinting_and_toning_of_eastman_po_4ed.htm This is not exactly the Cyanotype process, but an alternative. It seems you want to color a b&w positive transparency (16mm film print), not a paper or canvas print. Eastman's formula for blue toning uses iron ferrocyanide. This should work on b&w camera original processed neg or reversal. "Commencing with a black and white image on positive motion picture film, it is possible to color this differently by purely chemical means so that the hue of the shadows differs from that of half-tones, while the highlights remain perfectly clear." Above from Cinematograph Weekly 5/1931- 'Double-Toning of Film'. The article states that the process does not effect sound tracks. http://www.brianpritchard.com/Double%20Toning%20KW.jpg Wear a mask and gloves! Charlie